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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28078083">Mari Christmas And A Happy New Adrien</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jarl_Deathwolf/pseuds/Jarl_Deathwolf'>Jarl_Deathwolf</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Miraculous Ladybug</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Christmas Dinner, Christmas Eve, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Party, F/M, Fluff, ML Secret Santa, MLSS2020, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Post-Hawk Moth Defeat, Post-Reveal Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 18:27:39</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,746</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28078083</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jarl_Deathwolf/pseuds/Jarl_Deathwolf</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Lost in the aftermath of Hawkmoth's defeat, Adrien loses complete track of time and before he knows it, the holiday season is upon him. Will a Christmas visit to his girlfriend's house be just what he needs to move on?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Sabine Cheng/Tom Dupain</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>169</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Mari Christmas And A Happy New Adrien</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/lesslinette/gifts">lesslinette</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hello, Merry Holiday Seasons to you all! This fic was written for the ML Secret Santa exchange organized over on tumblr and the person receiving this was none other than <a href="https://lesslinette.tumblr.com/">Less</a>, who you might remember as providing the art for my Cat Crossing fic!</p><p>I had to do a good amount of research into French and Chinese Christmas traditions (including interviewing my long-suffering French friend), so hopefully I didn't get anything *too* wrong.</p><p>Enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p><strong>Marinette 💖: </strong>You still up?</p><p><strong>Adrien</strong>: Yeah<br/>
Still not sleeping great<br/>
House was always too quiet<br/>
Never thought it could get more quiet tho lol<br/>
Whats up?</p><p><strong>Marinette 💖: </strong>:(<br/>
Just wondering what u were doing 4 xmas<br/>
Since<br/>
You know</p><p><strong>Adrien: </strong>Since father went to jail and mom died again?
Haven’t thought about it<br/>
Guess ive still got time to figure it out</p><p><strong>Marinette 💖: </strong>…
..Its the 23rd of Dec<br/>
Like 2am<br/>
Not a lot of time left</p><p><strong>Adrien: </strong>oh
Guess uh<br/>
Stay at home?</p><p><strong>Marinette 💖: </strong>Adrien
Its been like two months<br/>
Youve been going crazy in there<br/>
Youll just be stuck in there all by yourself<br/>
Why don’t you come over?</p><p><strong>Adrien: </strong>I don’t know…
I don’t want to bring anyone down<br/>
Or ruin anyone’s christmas</p><p><strong>Marinette 💖: </strong>Adrien ‘Kindest Boy in Paris’ Agreste</p><p><strong>Adrien: </strong>Oh no she used my middle name</p><p><strong>Marinette 💖: </strong>You are coming over tomorrow
And letting me pamper you<br/>
And letting my family - your REAL family - love you<br/>
And that is the end of that<br/>
...Is that okay with you?</p><p><strong>Adrien: </strong>Whatever you say ma’am</p><p><strong>Marinette 💖: </strong>Good
Be here no later than fifteen hundred<br/>
Let me know if I need to pick you up</p><p><strong>Adrien: </strong>Will do</p><p>Adrien laid back down, his face lit up only by the glow of his phone and the only noise in the room being Plagg’s snoring. Putting his phone to sleep, he turned over, closed his eyes, and honestly smiled for what felt like the first time in a long time. </p><p>---------------------</p><p>Adrien reached the door to his girlfriend’s house with a gift under one arm, an envelope in his pocket, and a weak smile on his face. The latter wasn’t because of a lack of feeling on his part - the exact opposite, actually. </p><p>It had been hard to go to sleep after their conversation that night, a swirl of mixed emotions keeping him from getting the rest that he craved. Last night wasn’t much better and he was left exhausted. He’d even been half tempted to call and say that he couldn’t make it, but somehow that only made him feel worse.</p><p>So here he was. He’d shambled his way to the car, driven himself there through blurry eyes and frequent yawns, and turned the doorknob. Maybe they’d understand if he just dropped off the present and headed home.</p><p>Well, maybe not home, but just where he lived. </p><p>The instant the door opened, a wave of hot air buffeted him. Not only did it warm his freezing face, it brought all sorts of wonderful smells on it. There were the expected scents - baked potatoes, salmon, chicken. But then was something else, something a little harder to place.</p><p>After puzzling over it for a moment, he shook his head and stepped into the house. No sooner had he closed the door behind him than he heard some voices calling out from deeper inside.</p><p>“Wait, was that the door? The family wasn’t supposed to be over until tomorrow, weren’t they?”</p><p>“Tom, that <em>has </em>to be Adrien!”</p><p>There was excitement in Sabine’s voice that warmed his heart, but not quite as much as when he’d taken a couple steps into the house and was blindsided by Marinette bursting out of the living room to wrap him in a hug. </p><p>“Worried I might not show?” Adrien whispered after they parted from their kiss.</p><p>“Not even for a moment, chaton.” She smiled up at him before her eyes wandered down to his arms, a suspicious look on her face when she saw the one present. “Looks like you showed some restraint this year.”</p><p>“Of course!” At her continued doubting look, he added. “Come on, I’m perfectly capable of giving reasonable gifts.”</p><p>“Last year you tried to give me my favorite restaurant.”</p><p>“But I didn’t!”</p><p>“Only because I hid your checkbook and credit cards!”</p><p>Adrien snorted. “Details.”</p><p>Rolling her eyes, Marinette tugged on his coat sleeve. “Follow me, you ridiculous man. You can put your gifts under the tree, we’ll open them tomorrow.”</p><p>She led him into the living room, where their Christmas tree had been set up in all its glory. There were red paper chains wrapped all around it and a huge variety of homemade ornaments - including a few that he’d made in years past. Ever since he and Marinette had started dating, he’d been welcomed into their household with open arms. And even before that, they’d been nothing but kind to him. </p><p>His eyes poured over the tree, looking for one specific ornament. It didn’t take him long to find it - with its poor quality, it stood out among the beautiful glass orbs and painted baubles. His fingers brushed over the patches of glitter, a nostalgic smile spreading across his face as he took in the patterns of melted wax inside it. His first ornament. They’d barely been dating a few months when he’d made that one. </p><p>Had it really been four years already?</p><p>Arms wrapped around him from the side and he looked down at Marinette’s chin resting on his shoulder, peering up at him with big blue eyes.</p><p>“What’re you thinking about, hot stuff?”</p><p>“Old memories, that’s all.”</p><p>“Hmm…” She leaned up to give him a kiss on the cheek. “You just about ready to make some new ones?”</p><p>“With you? Always.”</p><p>“You two want to come in and help us finish cooking dinner?” They both jumped when Sabine’s voice reached them.</p><p>Blushing, Marinette reluctantly let Adrien go and headed toward the kitchen. “Coming, maman!”</p><p>------------------</p><p>A few hours later and the four of them were seated around the dining room table. Some things had been moved around from what Adrien remembered from the usual arrangement, and a long table had been set up. Most of the spaces were empty - with the four of them, only about a third of the table was occupied. But while the chairs were mostly left bare, the table was not.</p><p>Even though he had helped make some of it, Adrien was still amazed at how good the food all looked when laid out on the table like this. </p><p>Most of it was pretty traditional, at least from what he knew. A lot of the time his experience with Christmas dinners were meals allowed to grow cold until he gave up on his father showing. But the roasted chicken was still steaming when they cut into it, the smoked salmon and toast still holding the heat of the oven on them. Add in the gratin dauphinois and this was just about the ideal Christmas dinner he could imagine.</p><p>Naturally, it got even better with Sabine’s contribution - spring rolls.</p><p>As Adrien shoveled them onto his plate, he asked Sabine, “Is this the only Chinese dish for today, maman?”</p><p>“Just you wait, dear.” She smiled over her plate. “Today was Tom’s turn to make dinner. Tomorrow will be mine and you’ll definitely have your fill then.”</p><p>“I can’t wait!” Adrien took some of the chestnut sauce to pour over his chicken. Which reminded him… He glanced nervously toward the oven. “I don’t suppose you made foie gras, did you?”</p><p>Marinette made a face and shivered.</p><p>Tom quickly shook his head. “Oh no, son. Back when Marinette was… what? Eight, nine? She found out how it was made and made us promise to never have it again.”</p><p>“Eleven years later and we haven’t broken that promise yet,” Sabine finished. “There are plenty of other foods in the world.”</p><p>“That’s good.” Adrien breathed a sigh of relief. “It always made me uncomfortable when my father ordered it.”</p><p>“Ordered, dear?” Sabine gave him a confused look.</p><p>“Oh, we never really cooked our own dinners.”</p><p>Tom’s jaw dropped. “Not even Christmas dinner?”</p><p>“Nope. Sometimes he’d have to order the dinner prepared the day before and then we’d reheat it the day of, since no one wanted to come into work on Christmas day, you know?”</p><p>“I see…” Tom shared a look with Sabine, but the meaning was lost on Adrien. “Well, you make sure you have your fill, son! We’ll be making more for tomorrow, so this is all for us.”</p><p>“Thanks,” Adrien said with a grateful smile. </p><p>The conversation meandered and for the most part Adrien was just content to listen in, drinking in the company after spending so much of his time recently just by himself. Well, mostly by himself. Marinette would visit whenever she could get the time between college classes and internships. Nino and Alya were more elusive, if only because they were outside the city so often these days.</p><p>But there was one person who was his constant companion, Adrien thought with a smile as he peeked into the breast pocket of his T-shirt…</p><p>...Only to see that it was empty. Maybe he’d gone to visit Tikki and the kwamis of the miracle box? Adrien was drawn out of his thoughts when Sabine directed a question at him.</p><p>“Are you ready for the pre-dessert snacks, dear?”</p><p>“Oh! Sure, yeah. What do you have?”</p><p>“You’ll love it!” Tom excitedly got up and hustled over to the kitchen, Sabine right behind him. He raised his voice to be heard as he went to the room next door. “We know how much you love camembert so…”</p><p>Adrien’s eyes widened. They didn’t…</p><p>Tom returned with a platter of cheeses in his hands and a frown on his lips. </p><p>“Something wrong, papa?” Marinette’s eyes glanced between Tom and the cheese platter.</p><p>“No, no… its just… I could have sworn I bought more cheese than this. And I was so sure that I had purchased camembert.” He rubbed his chin. “Ah well, there is more than enough for the three of us anyway.”</p><p>While Sabine set down a large bowl of salad in the middle of the table, Adrien glanced at Marinette. At his side, Marinette was biting her lips and pointedly staring into the middle distance, trying her hardest not to laugh. For his part, Adrien was frustrated that he couldn’t go <em>anywhere </em>without Plagg making a noticeable dent in the food supply. </p><p>His annoyance with Plagg was so great he <em>almost </em>didn’t enjoy the Yule Log that Tom had made for dessert. Almost, but not quite. </p><p>Once they were done with dinner, they cleared the table.</p><p>“So, how’d you like the meal?” Marinette asked as she dried off the dishes while Adrien washed them.</p><p>“Definitely better hot. And homemade.”</p><p>Marinette chuckled. “I’m glad the bar was so high for us. Really makes us feel like we accomplished something here.”</p><p>“How about…” Adrien bit down on his lips and narrowed his eyes in thought. “It was the most delicious meal I’ve had in months.”</p><p>“Ooo, now we’re getting somewhere.”</p><p>“<em>Years</em> even.”</p><p>“Good, good, go on.”</p><p>“I had never known food could taste so delicious until you <em>graced </em>me with your heavenly meals.”</p><p>Marinette’s eyes gleamed with restrained laughter, the hint of a barely contained smile ruining her deadpan. “Glad I could finally weasel how you really feel out of you.”</p><p>“Yeah you’re pretty good at that, aren’t you?” Hands still in the sink’s soapy water, he leaned over and planted a kiss on her forehead.</p><p>“No fooling around now, we still have to help put up the last decorations before we relax for the night.”</p><p>“What sort of decorations?”</p><p>“Paper lanterns and paper chains. That sort of thing.” At Adrien’s politely confused look, she added, “It’ll help make mom’s side of the family feel welcome. Plus they look pretty cool.”</p><p>“Well what are we waiting for then? Let’s kick this into <em>overdrive!</em>”</p><p>Adrien suddenly worked in a flurry, Marinette scream laughing as she got splashed with some of the water thrown up by his breakneck pace. Marinette could barely keep up between her giggling, but she somehow managed.</p><p>With the last fork, plate, and glass sparkling clean and put away, Marinette shook her head and dabbed at her slightly damp shirt with a fresh towel.</p><p>“You’re a dork, you know that?”</p><p>“So my girlfriend tells me.”</p><p>Adrien relished the sometimes quiet, sometimes loud evening he spent with the Dupain-Chengs. When he went upstairs and cuddled Marinette in the cozy darkness, Adrien felt only excitement for the next day</p><p>----------------</p><p>Morning came swiftly, but Adrien rose to meet the dawn’s first light with a smile on his lips and a spring in his step. Marinette was… a little less eager, but he managed to coax her out of the bed, eventually. </p><p>When they finally got down the stairs and made it to the kitchen, Sabine’s eyes widened and she even froze in the middle of folding one of her dumplings. </p><p>“Marinette? I’m surprised to see you up so early.” </p><p>Bleary eyed, her daughter simply jabbed a finger toward Adrien and grunted. Adrien rubbed the back of his neck and chuckled.</p><p>“I knew you’d be a good influence on her, sweetie.”  Sabine patted his cheek with a warm smile. “Now, once you’ve had some breakfast I’d really appreciate some help out here. From you especially, Marinette, since you know exactly how to do it the way I like it.”</p><p>“Can’t Tom help?” Adrien made some toast for him and Marinette, doing his best to stay out of Sabine’s way. “Not that I’m not willing to lend a hand, but he’s got to be pretty good at it after all this time, right?”</p><p>Sabine laughed and even Marinette cracked a smile. “You’d think so, but no. The man can make almost any dessert known to French mankind, but I’ve yet to see him finish one spring roll or dumpling in all our years of marriage. Just about the only thing I’m trusting him with today is the roasted pork.”</p><p>“Not even the cheese plate?” Adrien asked, tongue in cheek. To his surprise, Sabine shook her head gravely. </p><p>“We don’t make one for Christmas day. After all, everyone that is going to be here is from my side of the family and we’re all lactose intolerant.”</p><p>“Oh.” Adrien glanced at Marinette, who shrugged. </p><p>“I got lucky and got papa’s tolerance for it, I guess.”</p><p>“Huh… well, can I help?”</p><p>A few hours passed, most of which Adrien spent doing vital but unskilled cooking like stirring and kneading. Although they <em>did </em>let him try to fold a few dumplings. It ended up nowhere near as well done as Marinette’s, but she still gave him a kiss on the cheek for the good effort. From what he gathered, Tom had never even managed to get it to stay together.</p><p>They had just put the last batch in the oven when they heard a knock at the door, Sabine quickly taking off her apron as she rushed to answer it.</p><p>Adrien’s ears perked up when he heard a conversation in Chinese start up, but between him being a little rusty and them speaking so fast, he couldn’t pick out much.</p><p>A few moments later, Sabine walked back into the room with an older Chinese couple. Marinette pulled him towards them. Sabine put a hand on Adrien’s shoulder and introduced them.</p><p>“Adrien, these are my parents. My mother, Ling,” she said, gesturing towards the grey-haired woman currently hugging Marinette. “And my father, Zheng.” </p><p>The older man’s grey eyes sparkled with excitement as he held out a red envelope for Adrien, who just now noticed that Marinette had also been given one. He froze, eyes widening. Was he supposed to have gotten them something too? He hadn’t realized that anyone would be getting him anything, except maybe Marinette. There was a moment where he was about to decline but he took a shot in the dark and accepted. </p><p>The moment his hand touched the envelope, Zheng spoke in Mandarin, “Best wishes for the New Year!”</p><p>“Thank you very much!” Adrien replied automatically in the same language. While the finer points might escape him, Adrien was fluent in niceties. </p><p>Zheng’s eyes widened before he nodded sagely to himself. “Ahh, I see you’ve picked up some Mandarin from my daughter, yes?”</p><p>“Oh, no, sir. I’ve been studying since I was fourteen.”</p><p>Once again, Zheng’s eyes widened before he chuckled and looked knowingly at Marinette. “This one is <em>definitely </em>a keeper! I approve.”</p><p>Marinette’s cheeks were almost as red as the envelope, but she still smiled.</p><p>The bright, enticing red of the envelope made him want nothing more than to open it right then and there. But Adrien took a nod from Marinette, who had very pointedly left it sealed even as she refused to set it down. He chose to follow her lead as they all made their way to the living room.</p><p>While the Dupain-Cheng parents and the Cheng parents were getting settled there, Marinette volunteered them to go make some tea. Once they were in the kitchen and out of earshot of the new arrivals, Adrien held up his envelope with a raised eyebrow and curious look.</p><p>“You can go ahead and look at it now, it’s just not polite to do it right when you get it.” She carefully unsealed the envelope. “It's this Chinese tradition - good luck money for the new year, you know?”</p><p>Adrien followed her lead and found one ten, one twenty, and one fifty euro note inside. Glancing over, it seemed Marinette got the same. He was half tempted to just give her his euros since he didn’t have any need for it, but decided that might be tacky. If she would even take them at all. After stashing the envelopes away in a kitchen drawer, they came back with tea for everyone.</p><p>Over the next few hours, more and more family members funneled into the house. Adrien, used to seeing maybe four people during the holiday season, thought the room would be close to bursting after the first aunt arrived with husband and two kids in tow. But then came the uncle and his family, then the <em>second </em>aunt with her boyfriend and by the end of it fifteen people were packed into the living room. For some reason apples in boxes became involved? Adrien thought that was a pun but that was more his pun sense than his linguistic skill. </p><p>Before anyone could get too settled in, they finally got to opening presents. Despite his fears from the red envelope, no one else seemed to have gotten Adrien anything.</p><p>At least, none of the extended family had. The Dupain-Cheng family, however…</p><p>“Here you go, dear.” While the rest of the room was chattering among themselves, Sabine placed a package about as big as a shoebox on Adrien’s lap. Before he could react to it, Marinette had shoved a bag stuffed with packing paper.</p><p>“Let me go get your-”</p><p>Adrien felt a tug on his arm and looked down at Marinette seated beside him. “Open <em>your </em>gifts first and then we’ll open the ones you got us.”</p><p>“Okay, okay.” Adrien looked at the box on his lap and tore it open. He tilted his head in confusion as he lifted the fabric that he found there out of the box. His eyes widened when he realized it was an apron with ‘Kiss the Chef’ on it. </p><p>“Its for when you come over to cook with us!” Tom beamed down at him proudly. “Now you don’t need to borrow our aprons any more - you’ll have one of your very own!”</p><p>Adrien felt his eyes get misty and he bit his lips to keep himself from crying. After a few moments of pulling himself together, he managed to say, “Thank you, guys. I’m really looking forward to wearing it!”</p><p>“Speaking of…” Marinette prodded the bag she left with him.</p><p>“Right, right.” </p><p>Adrien removed the paper and pulled out what turned out to be a sweater, cream colored and decorated with mistletoes and black cats in red scarves. It felt amazingly soft as he slipped it on over his head, embraced in a warm hug that - he lifted the fabric to his nose and took a deep breath - yes, smelled exactly like Marinette. For now at least. </p><p>“Do you like it?” Instead of replying, Adrien wrapped his arms around Marinette and pulled her close to him, nuzzling his nose against her neck. Giggling, she smacked his arms lightly. “I’ll take that as a yes, now let go!”</p><p>After he pulled his arms back, he stood up and stepped between the Cheng family members and made it to the tree before heading back to the little corner of the living room that they had claimed. He passed the envelope to Tom and the box to Marinette.</p><p>“A… gift card for an appliance store?” Tom said, his brow furrowing.</p><p>“I wanted to get you an actual new stove because you’re always upset at it,” Adrien explained in a rush, feeling embarrassed that his gift felt so… impersonal compared to theirs. “But when I went to the store I had no idea what actually made a good stove and searching it up on the internet only made it more confusing and… yeah,” he finished lamely.”</p><p>He glanced up at them and felt better to see them smiling back. </p><p>“That’s very thoughtful of you, Adrien! Thank you, we’ll make good use of this.”</p><p>Beside him, Marinette began opening her gift, which Adrien was much more excited for. Not because he had spent any less for it, but because <em>that </em>at least he knew exactly what to get.</p><p>He knew he’d done good when she gasped as she pulled out the expensive fabric she’d once stared at longingly from the otherside of a store’s window in Paris. Which, of course, meant that he was also expecting the smack on his arm from her as well.</p><p>“Adrien! This is <em>expensive</em>! You definitely shouldn’t have bought this.”</p><p>“Actually, you’ll remember that I get to spoil you <em>exactly </em>three times a year - birthdays, Valentine’s, and Christmas.” He gave her the most innocent look he could manage. “So you like it then?”</p><p>She narrowed her eyes at him. “You know I absolutely love it, you cat.”</p><p>“Then that’s great!” He continued with the overly chipper and oblivious tone, knowing how much it bugged her. He rubbed his hands together. “So… when’s dinner?”</p><p>-----------</p><p>After a Christmas dinner packed with Chinese dishes, they slowly returned to the living room.</p><p>Adrien sat in a corner of the room, taking in the warm and inviting atmosphere, the excitement and energy of so many people gathered together in such a small space. </p><p>Holding Marinette close, Adrien felt like he was part of a real family for the first time in a long time.</p><p> </p>
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